Merriam-Webster defines tolerance as the “willingness to accept feelings, habits or beliefs that are different from your own.”

Notice that the very definition of the word “tolerance” requires acknowledging a belief or feeling that is different from your own. Why is this significant?

Because many people wield the word tolerance as a sword, but their “tolerance” is anything but.

For example, some gay rights supporters declare their tolerance, yet quickly term those who disagree as “bigots” or “haters.” This is, of course, anything but tolerant. In other words, if you are “tolerant” of beliefs you share, whatever they are, you are not, by definition, tolerant. This is because the very meaning of the word tolerance requires a different point of view.

Don’t misunderstand us. First, we generally support equal rights for all citizens of this great country. Second, we take no issue with your belief that those with differing beliefs are horribly wrong; just don’t characterize your opposition as “tolerance.” In order to be truly tolerant, you must accept the intolerant.

There are examples on the other side of the political divide as well. Many devoutly religious people are quick to declare themselves “tolerant” of other religious beliefs. Yet, deep down they hold that those with different beliefs are “sinners,” “apostates,” or “infidels.” Have you ever heard a “tolerant” Christian joke about the Mormon religion? Have you ever heard a Muslim insult a Jew?

Again, we believe first and foremost in the free exercise of religion. Believe what you want. But don’t proclaim your tolerance while refusing to tolerate those who feel differently. (Of course, there are some things we as a society refuse to tolerate, such as murder. But we do not proclaim our tolerance of it, while condemning those who practice it, either.)

Here is another, more generic example. You have no doubt heard someone proclaim his or her beliefs, prefaced by the qualifier that “no decent person,” or “no right-thinking person” would disagree. Is the speaker exercising tolerance? Of course not. The speaker is simply using a different technique to demonstrate the superiority of his beliefs and his intolerance of those who differ.

Our system of governance is based on the idea of freedom of belief and expression. The very foundation requires that individuals are free to hold beliefs that others find repugnant. We are free to hate. Many pay lip service to this idea, while painting those who disagree with them in derogatory terms. To call this “tolerance” is hijacking the language to serve one’s own agenda, political or otherwise.

Good policy flows from many competing ideas and beliefs. In order for our system to work, however, we must accept that others might have different, deeply held, good-faith beliefs without those beliefs rendering the believer evil, mean or bigoted.

If you select what beliefs you will tolerate by how closely they align with your own, or if you truly believe that yours is the one true way, and those who hold different beliefs are hateful, mean or evil people, you are anything but tolerant. Think deeply about that. What word describes someone who thinks that his or her opinions are beyond dispute, even to the point of taking the next step to actively disparage those with different views?

This is not tolerance.

It is arrogance.

This occasional No Teams column is written by Great Falls residents Gregg Smith, an attorney who has practiced in Great Falls since 1988; Dave Bertelsen, who with his wife, Vicki, owns K&K Trucking Inc.; and businessman David Weissman.